Blogging for three different topics on three different sites is a full time job on its own. Taking care of my other two communities on top of them is hard work. Then, consider the fact that this is only a hobby, and I still have to keep up my day job and maintain a decent personal life.

I need to cut something out of my life. I think I’m going to cut out sleep. During the day, Brandon will have a normal outside life. At night, Brandon is full-time blogger! My plan can’t fail!

Money made online in May
Google AdSense - $106.24
Kontera ContentLink - $52.59
Text-Link-Ads - $1.59
AdBrite - $4.13
Chitika eMini Malls - $0.57
Total Revenue: $165.12

In May, I made a total of $165.12 across my blog network - a 13% increase from April. I’m not totally surprised though. This was the first full run of Kontera. I also added Chitika into the mix at the end of the month, but it only made 57 cents.

If you multiply last month’s revenue by 12, I’m making about $1,981.44 a year from a part time hobby. Do you think I can pass the 2k mark next month? We’ll see!

Next to web development, my biggest hobby is music. Or more specifically, playing electric guitar. I love to rock out as much as anyone. In fact, I just purchased a new Les Paul last weekend.

Anyways, my next venture is one that I’m very excited about. This is a project that I’ve thought about doing for years, but never got around to actually doing it. This new venture is titled “strumstrum” - a place for people who play guitar.

If you look at the site now, there is not much there. Just a parking page until the site opens.

Once again, this is another solo venture. Originally I had a partner but we parted ways (he was only interested in made-for-adsense sites). The basic idea is that strumstrum will offer a community for guitarists to interact, get song tabs, share their videos, and read the latest music news. Of course, I have a lot of secrets up my sleave that should make this a VERY unique venture.

I’m not going to monetize the site immediately, but when I do it will be a part of my monthly earnings report so that you can get an idea of how its doing.

Stay tuned.

Anyways, here is my earnings report for last month.

Money made online in April
Google AdSense - $91.59
Kontera ContentLink - $35.13
Text-Link-Ads - $15.43
AdBrite - $1.90
Total Revenue: $144.05

This is very exciting news, since this is the best month yet for my young blog network. There was a 37% increase in revenue over last month’s $104.91. Making $1,728.60 a year from a part time hobby is not a bad deal.

While new posts on Ontora have slowed down, they continued at a normal rate on my other sites. So clearly, the increase in revenue is largely thanks to an increase in traffic. Another important thing to note is that my AdSense revenue for April was almost identical to March. Using a variety of different ad placements (in this case, Kontera) may stifle your individual networks, but it will help your total revenue in the end.

We’ll see how things go in May. Think I can beat $144.05 this month?

Want to get my latest tips and tricks for making money online? Join me on my quest to take over the internet and subscribe to Ontora’s full RSS feed.

Anyways - to answer my own question - no, John is not losing his edge as the root of evil. In fact, this is just another one of his schemes to get back links to his blog! Not only is he evil, he is deceivingly evil!

An example of in-text advertising (using Kontera)

There is a little bit of confusion with branding here, so let me explain. Kontera is to ContentLink as Google is to AdSense. Kontera is a marketing company that manages an in-text advertising network called ContentLink.

ContentLink ads are more invasive than some people like. I think you have to decide on a site by site basis. They can clutter your design and annoy your visitors, depending on your content. Generally, you only want to use in-text advertising like Intellitxt and ContentLink on content-heavy pages, with at least a few paragraphs of text.

The ad code is just a simple Javascript code that your put at the bottom of your pages. The script scans for keywords on the page and matches them with advertiser’s products to create the in-text ads. The ads are CPC, so I get money every time someone clicks them. The best part about it is that they are relevant to the content, so I know both my readers and my advertisers are happy.

Kontera ContentLink pays well too. I’ve been running the ads on one of my blogs for the past two weeks now. On good days, it will make more money than AdSense. On average days, it makes slightly less than AdSense. Still, it’s by far one of the best ad networks I’ve ever used.

Now, you can signup for Kontera ContentLink and start making money too, thanks to the John Chow / Kontera partnership. All you need to do is fill out the application and put “John Chow Kontera partnership” in the Comments field. If your content is deemed acceptable, you should be approved within a few days. Enjoy!

Unfortunately, the only new service that brought in additional revenue was AdBrite. Anyways, let’s get on with it. Here is my earnings report for last month.

Money made online in March
Google AdSense - $92.04
Text-Link-Ads - $10.77
AdBrite - $2.10
Total Revenue: $104.91

$104.91 is not bad, that’s a 16% revenue increase in 30 days! Keep in mind, this is a part time hobby, so the fact that I’m making money online is only a bonus. Times my March revenue by 12, and I’m making about $1,258.92 a year.

Once again, AdSense is the biggest money maker for my blogs, with Text-Link-Ads bringing in a fair amount. I rotated several other ad networks throughought my sites, however, none of the made me a single penny (with the exception of AdBrite).

March has been one of my best months ever. Coincidentally, I also slowed blog updates in March - I didn’t even get on a computer last weekend because I was on vacation! The fact that I can spend less than an hour a day updating my blogs and make $1,258.92/year speaks for itself.

Want to get my latest tips and tricks for making money online? Join me on my quest to take over the internet and subscribe to Ontora’s full RSS feed.

Here are a few of the strategies that I use to stay motivated.

1. Read. Constantly. If you already know what you’re going to blog about, but don’t have a clue where to begin, go read some other blogs. My Google Reader is overflowed with content so I know there’s always something interesting to read that may get my juices flowing. Going back and reading your own blog’s old posts may stir some motivation inside you as well.

2. Check your stats. This always helps me get motivated. When I look at my Google Analytics and see that page views are up 20%, I feel that I owe it to my readers to write a new post.

3. Go offline. Sometimes it’s just best to take a step back. If I’m really dreading having to update my blogs, I’ll just get away from my desk for a few minutes. Going for a walk, playing a game, working out, and listening to music are just a few of the ways that help me clear my head.

If you’re having trouble mustering up the energy to write a new article, try one of the ideas from this list and let me know if it works!

If you over-deliver to your advertisers, there’s a good chance they will reorder a spot for next month, and perhaps even become a long-time sponsor. Over time, your sponsors will be willing to pay more money for the spot as your space becomes more competitive.

We would have only had one sponsor this month, but Greenlight jumped on at the last minute.

Thanks to Fool.co.uk, who offers deals on credit cards, and Greenlight Search Engine Marketing, who offer search engine optimisation services.

Want to sponsor Ontora next month? You wont be disappointed at $20 a month.

The idea is pretty basic: using a blog (a free Blogger account will do just fine), you can scrape content from other sites in the genre, paraphrase the article in your own words, and then cite them as the source at the bottom. If you write a unique summary, Google will give you credit for the content.

For example, if I started a scraper blog about video games, I would subscribe to IGN and GameSpot e-mail updates. If an interesting news story came up, I would summarize the article in 3-4 sentences, pull a quote or two, and post it on my blog.

Getting back links with scraper blogs is not too difficult either. If you link to an article from another blog, not only will you get a trackback in the comments, but the blog’s author may be so inclined to link back to you.

Once you get the blog rolling with content, you will be making easy dough.

Search engines put a lot of value on titles. The title of an article not only peaks your readers’ interest, it also tells search engines what keywords are important.

If you search for “red convertible cars” on Google and the number one result is just titled “Cars,” you’re probably not going to click that. That’s why it’s so important for you to include your post title in the page title (what appears at the top of your browser window).

I also highly recommend signing up for a free WordTracker trial and finding out what phrases people are using to find your keywords. If you people are searching for “red convertible automobiles,” you want your title to say that instead of just “Red Convertible Cars.”

After tuning all of the article titles to phrases with higher search traffic, I saw an increase in web traffic by almost 30%. Just goes to show you what a little tweaking can do for you.

Google Checkout is a convenient payment system for shopping online. Checkout is comparable to eBay’s PayPal service, enabling users to easily buy items online, track orders, and configure shipping information all in one place.

The downside to the service is that not all online merchants work with Google Checkout yet. However, if you signup for a free Google Checkout account, you automatically get $10 credited to your account for whatever you wish. You can’t go wrong with a free $10.

I’m currently testing Checkout referrals on my PSP blog. I’m running a skyscraper unit to the right of the content on every page. So far, I’ve had zero conversions. However, it’s only been in place for several hours.

I’m pretty sure that Google Checkout referrals is not going to outperform a basic AdSense block. However, I also know that most people wont turn down free money.

More about making money with AdSense referrals

One of the biggest mistakes I see people make is that they forget the little guy. Too often I see high-profile sites turn down affiliate requests from small startups. Obviously, you can’t accept every link request that comes your way. However, it certainly doesn’t hurt you to show some link love to smaller sites.

For example, a girl started a music blog where she posts weekly updates about Japanese music. Definitely an obscure topic, and the site barely received any traffic. I agreed to do a link exchange with her from one of my high traffic content sites. What do I get out of the deal? For one thing, the satisfaction of helping someone else succeed. And in the long run, once she has developed traffic, she will be more generous in linking back to my site.

You have to think of it as an investment. Investing your outbound links in the smaller guys can greatly benefit you in the long run.

Here is some of the best of the worst church websites I’ve came across. From animated gifs, to decorated backgrounds and polyphonic midis, these organizations really need to convert some graphic designers.

1. The Trinity Episcopal Church has actually put some effort into their website. Unfortunately, 1/3 of the page is blank space, making this a truly hideous layout.

Orange on orange is a great idea.

2. Next is the website for the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. Now the site comes in both Oriental and English! The worst part is that this site was “professionally” done.

Now, with downloadable sermons.

3. Headz Up Hip Hop? What? From the site: “reaching out to the hip-hop culture with the Good News of Jesus Christ in a non-traditional atmosphere”. This one looks like the homepage for a 90’s radio station.

I guess blue and red do go together.

4. This one is my favorite - the website for the Jewish community of Komárno. Always remember the golden rule of design: Thou shalt use as much blistering yellow as possible. This site keeps getting better. They’ve embedded a WordPress blog into the bottom of their page. The best part though has to be the background music.

Jagshemash!

5. Finally, the Lutheran Church of the Master really needs some help. Besides the use of frames, the picture is downright creepy. I’m sure he’s a really nice guy, but was this really the best picture they could find?

Good thing they didn’t forget the bible quote in the left frame.

2007. “Jesus loves you. Unless you make shitty websites.”

How it works
When you sign up as an Auction Ads publisher, you enter specific keywords related to your website, customize the look of the ads, and then get the code to put in your template. I figured that since Auction Ads is product based, it would work best on my gaming blog.

The ads are simple and comparable to AdSense, except they have a nice little image next to each link. Theoretically, this should improve the click through rate. The links show eBay auctions related to the keywords you defined for your website. The catch with Auction Ads is that you don’t get paid per click. The user must click on the ad and take action on the eBay auction.

I have been using an Auction Ads vertical skyscraper block next to my content for the past week. Initially, I had high hopes for the service. Unfortunately, I haven’t had a single conversion all week.

The stats
Impressions:2538
Clicks: 19
Referrals: 0
Conversions: 0
Earnings: $0.00

I can’t exactly give Auction Ads a thumbs down yet, since I don’t know what the payout is like. However, unless they pay $10.00 for one conversion, I am not impressed.

I will give it some more time though. Auction Ads is only a week old, so naturally they will improve over time. Give it a try and see if it works for you.